This tool makes it possible to more conveniently handle the removal and installation of hand guards (forearms) on a conventional M16/M4 family weapon when the lower receiver subassembly is not available or not desired. As will be appreciated by those in the gun repair trade, in the disassembly or reassembly of such weapons the handling of the hand guards and allied elements is a challenging, tricky and painstaking activity often requiring two individuals, and a good deal of hand gripping strength combined with pulling strength, thus greatly needing improved assist. This disclosed tool handily is a great addition and assists in such activities.
The description as follows includes directional designations such as up, down, left, right, lateral, transverse, longitudinal, top, bottom, vertical, and the like, that are taken from the perspective of a firearm (e.g., a conventional AR-10/AR-15/M16 family, style, platform, or pattern rifle and M4 pattern carbine, and variants thereof) as typically held and operated by a user.
The description assumes the level of knowledge held by an ordinary armorer, gunsmith, repair or assembly technician, user, operator, maintenance personnel, and the like for a conventional AR-15/M16 pattern rifle and M4 pattern carbine, and variants thereof, and the respective components and operation thereof. The environment forms no part of the invention. Likewise, designations such as “a”, “an”, and “the” are not to be construed to be limited to a singular item or action unless apparent from the context or definitely described as such.
As used herein, elements having numbers more than 9 and less than 100 generally refer to conventional elements known in the art by one having ordinary skill, while elements number 100 and above refer to the present invention, or elements, components, and the like thereof.
Conventional elements include:    10: rifle, firearm, weapon, carbine, and the like; generally AR-10, AR-15/M16 rifle, M4 carbine;    12: upper receiver assembly;    14: lower receiver assembly;    16: hand guard (forearm, fore grip) group (assembly);    18: end cap;    20: slip ring, collar, delta ring;    22: hand guards;    30: front mounting lug of the upper receiver 12;    32: rear mounting lug of the upper receiver 12;    36: pivot pin—at front of the lower receiver 14;    38: take down pin—at rear of the lower receiver 14;    40: magazine well—at front of the lower receiver 14;    42: bolt carrier group—internal allied components of the lower receiver 14;    50: hand guard removal tool;    52L: left arm of the hand guard removal tool 50;    52R: right arm of the hand guard removal tool 50;    54: end plate of the hand guard removal tool 50; and    56: engagement flange of the hand guard removal tool 50.
As further understood by those having ordinary skill in the art, the conventional M16/M4/AR-15 family weapons are made to an exacting technical data description that is agreed upon by manufacturers and that provides interchangeability and modularity within and between manufacturers using such designation. As such, designation of the subject firearms as being within M16/M4/AR-15 family weapons provides the indication (designation) of de facto standardization of the components so designated. Thus, such designation is distinct and particular as used in connection with claims directed thereto.
During assembly and repair operations of AR-15/M16 pattern (style or family) rifles and M4 pattern (style or family) carbines (i.e., weapons), and variants thereof (referred to as guns, weapons, or firearms hereafter), the hand guards (i.e., mechanism, assembly, etc.) of such weapons, e.g., forearms, fore ends, hand grips, etc., as is well known to those skilled in the art of the assembly, maintenance, and repair of the weapons are often removed and installed (or reinstalled). Such repairs may include tasks such as but not limited to installation of new hand guards to replace damaged hand guards, upgrading of obsolete hand guards, and replacement of damaged gas tubes barrels, front sights, etc.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a left side elevation view of a conventional AR-15/M16 pattern rifle and/or M4 carbine 10 is illustrated; FIG. 2 is a broken partial view. Also referring to as well FIGS. 3(A-C), top, right side and rear elevation views, respectively, of a conventional hand guard removal tool 50 is illustrated. The firearm 10 comprises an upper receiver subassembly 12, and a lower receiver subassembly 14.
The upper receiver subassembly 12 comprises a hand guard group 16, and end cap 18, and a slip ring (e.g., delta ring, collar, etc.) 20. The hand guard group 16 comprises a pair of hand guards 22 that are configured to matingly engage the end cap 18 at the front, the slip ring 20 at the rear, and each other longitudinally to form a substantially solid structure that is urged and held (retained) in place via a slip ring spring (not shown). The details of the hand guard group 16 and allied components are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Further, details may be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,090,150; 4,536,982; and 4,663,875, which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. One implementation of the slip ring spring may be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,150 as element 28.
The upper receiver 12 further comprises a front mounting lug 30 and a rear mounting lug 32. The upper receiver 12 matingly engages the lower receiver subassembly 14 and the subassemblies 12 and 14 are held in place as a single unit via a pivot pin 36 at lateral holes in the front of the lower receiver 14 and through a hole in the front lug 30, and a takedown pin 38 at lateral holes in the rear of the lower receiver 14 and through a hole in the rear lug 32. The lower receiver 14 further comprises a magazine well 40 and a bolt carrier group 42. As is well known in the art, the magazine well 40 is configured to receive an ammunition magazine to feed cartridges into the weapon 10. During the conventional process of removal or installation of the hand guard assembly 16, the firearm bolt is retained within the upper receiver 12 by way of the lower receiver 14 and allied components.
In one example of conventional removal and/or installation of the hand guards 22, the conventional hand guard removal tool 50 generally includes a pair of lever arms 52L (left), and 52R (right), an end plate 54, and an engagement flange 56. The end plate 54 may be generally triangularly shaped having a first end of each of the arms 52L and 52R fixed outwardly from the plane of the triangle in the same generally perpendicular direction at two respective vertices and the engagement flange 56 fixed at the third vertex and protruding in the same direction as the arms 52L and 52R. When viewed from a side as shown, for example, on FIG. 3B, the conventional tool 50 has a generally hook (“J”) shape.
The end plate 54 is sized such that the arms 52L and 52R are spaced to loosely intersect the outer perimeter of the slip ring 20 (shown in phantom on FIG. 3A, for reference) at about the fore-aft midpoint. The flange 56 is sized to loosely fit into the magazine well 40. The end plate 54 is further sized and shaped such that the arms 52L and 52R are substantially perpendicular to the main axis of the weapon 10. That is, the arms 52L and 52R are pointing away from the top side of the rifle 10 when the conventional tool 50 has the engagement flange 56 inserted into the magazine well 40 and the arms 52L and 52R are straddling the slip ring 20.
In some alternative conventional examples (not shown), the conventional hand guard installation and removal tool 50 is implemented as a single metallic rod that is bent into a shape similar to the conventional tool 50 as illustrated on FIGS. 3(A-C) and described herein. In another example of convention retraction of the slip ring 20, makeshift lever-type arrangements of paracord or rope wrapped around the slip ring 20 and threaded through the magazine well 40 of the lower receiver 14 similarly to the operation of the conventional tool 50. The methods of use of such alternative conventional examples are essentially the same as described herein in connection with the conventional tool 50 on FIGS. 1, 2, and 3(A-C).
With the conventional tool 50 mounted to (positioned on) the rifle 10 as described above, the operator squeezes the arms 52L and 52R towards each other (see, direction arrows, AS, on FIG. 3A) and substantially simultaneously forces the arms 52L and 52R rearward (see, direction arrow, AD, on FIGS. 1 and 3B) to compress the slip ring spring and slide (retract) the slip ring 20 rearward to release the hand guards 22 during removal and provide for insertion of the hand guards 22 during installation.
Another conventional example of a tool to aid the retraction of the slip ring 20 is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,577, issued to Hardy. U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,577 is directed to tool to assist in the field removal of a rifle's hand grips or hand guards, comprising a pair of releaseably joined split ring segments which are adapted to urge the slip ring of a rifle away from the rifle's mounting ring, thereby freeing the rifle's hand grips. Elastic means are provided linking the device with the rifle's stock thereby permitting pressure to continuously urge the slip ring away from the mounting ring.
However, while the tool of U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,577 does appear to provide a user a more firm grasp of the slip ring 20, the tool of U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,577 does not appear to provide the leverage gained via the arms 52L and 52R of the conventional tool 50. Further, the tool of U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,577 contains many small components that may be misplaced and, in any case, may cause a more time consuming operation than implementation of the conventional tool 50.
In another conventional method of installation and removal of the hand guards 22, no external tools are used. The operator, or sometimes multiple operators, manually grip and retract the slip ring 20 while simultaneously removing the hand guards 22 from the upper assembly 12. However, many hand guards 22 are too difficult to readily remove manually, even with the aid of a second person. As such, most users (owners, gunsmiths, armorers, repair technicians, etc.) perform AR-15/M16 pattern rifle and M4 pattern carbine hand guard installation and removal via the use of magazine well 40 of the lower receiver 14 of the rifle 10 and the conventional lever device 50 to retract the slip ring 20 as described above.
Currently used actual lower receivers 14 have the deficiencies that they are large and heavy (especially when a butt stock is installed), and expensive, subject to theft, may be damaged during the hand guard installation and removal process, and lower receivers 14 are a regulated article that is federally registered as a firearm. Many weapon owners, armorers and gunsmiths have multiple upper receiver assemblies 12 on which repair and maintenance are performed. The damage of a lower receiver 14 may be financially burdensome, and the loss of a lower receiver 14 may result in possible criminal investigation and/or prosecution.
Conventional devices and methods to retain the bolt carrier group 42 during handling and/or storage of the upper receiver 12 include securing the bolt carrier group 42 via tie wraps, cord, and the like, or with a commercially available AR-15/M16 Upper Receiver Bolt Saver apparatus from Black Dog Machine, LLC, Nampa, Id.
Thus, there is a need and a desire for a system and a process that overcomes one or more of the deficiencies of conventional devices and processes.